Dolphin tale
The initial scenes of the movie show a pod of dolphins in their natural habitat followed by crab fishermen returning a crab trap to the ocean after emptying the trap of its contents. Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble) is a lonely 12 year old boy with no friends and his cousin Kyle (Austin Stowell), a champion swimmer and the only friend he really has, now following his father's footsteps by enrolling in the military for the summer in order to earn money for the Olympics. One day Sawyer is biking along the beach when a fisherman (Richard Libertini), calls for help after finding an injured bottlenose dolphin tangled in a crab trap. The two call for assistance, and rescue workers from the Clearwater Marine Hospital, run by Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick Jr.), take the injured dolphin for treatment. Clay's daughter Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff) names the dolphin Winter, as two prior dolphins, Summer and Autumn, were successfully returned to the ocean, and thinks that using seasons as names will continue the streak. Soon afterwards, Sawyer sneaks into the hospital and bumps into Hazel where she allows Sawyer to see Winter. Clay initially does not approve of the arrangement since Sawyer is not trained or experienced in marine animal care, but after noticing that Winter responds well whenever Sawyer is around, he is permitted to visit. Soon Sawyer, who was enrolled in summer school due to his failing or nearly failing all his classes during the year, starts skipping classes daily to visit Winter. Sawyer's mother Lorraine (Ashley Judd) finds out about Sawyer skipping classes, but after seeing that Sawyer's interaction with Winter has improved his moods and well-being, something Sawyer had not shown since being abandoned by his father who disappeared five years earlier, she withdraws him from summer school and agrees to let him to volunteer at the hospital. Unfortunately, Winter's tail is damaged and must be amputated. Winter learns to swim without a tail by developing a side-to-side motion, like a fish, but after an x-ray Clay notices that the unnatural motion is causing stress on her spine; if continued the motion will eventually kill her. Later that day, Sawyer returns home to hear the news that Kyle has been injured in an explosion and is coming home for treatment. Sawyer wants Kyle to meet Winter and excitedly anticipates seeing him at a welcome-back party thrown by his aunt and uncle (Kyle's parents and Lorraine's sister Alice), but is devastated to learn that Kyle has skipped the party, preferring to stay at the local Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Sawyer and Lorraine go to visit Kyle who is working with Dr. Cameron McCarthy (Morgan Freeman) in the facility's prosthetic lab. To Sawyer's surprise, Kyle is embarrassed to see them and even asks them to leave, which infuriates Sawyer. Kyle takes him on a walk and talks to Sawyer about his leg. Sawyer then asks Dr. McCarthy about a prosthetic tail for Winter. He agrees to work on the project during his upcoming vacation, and convinces his prosthetic supplier (Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics, which supplies Winter's real-life tails) to supply the parts at no cost. Dr. McCarthy manufactures a "homemade" model tail while waiting for the real one to arrive; however, Winter destroys it by banging it against the pool wall. Meanwhile Kyle gets into even more depression when his friend and swimming partner, Donovan Peck, beats his swimming records. Dr. McCarthy hears about it and talks to Kyle and encourages him to go home. Kyle decides to do so just as a hurricane hits Clearwater. Shortly there after the hospital, already in financial peril, is damaged by the hurricane, where upon the board of directors agree to close the hospital, sell the land to a real estate developer, and find homes for the animals, except Winter, who due to her condition is not wanted by anyone and may have to be euthanized. Sawyer is cleaning up the hospital when Kyle surprises him by helping him clean up. Sawyer introduces him to everyone and Kyle sees how Winter is exactly like him with a damaged leg. However, after a chance encounter with a mother and daughter, who also had a prosthetic limb, who heard about Winter's story and drove all the way from Atlanta, Georgia to see her, Sawyer comes up with a last chance plan called "Save Winter Day" to save the facility. Clay is not sold on the idea, but reconsiders after talking with his father, Reed (Kris Kristofferson). Kyle agrees to a race against Donovan Peck, a friend of his and the current local swim champion who followed him at high school and broke nearly all his prior swim records, and goes to Bay News 9 where he asks the attractive newswoman, Sandra Sinclair, to promote the event. The Hanger-supplied tail finally arrives; however, Winter damages it as well. Sawyer discovers that Winter isn't rejecting the tail; instead, the plastic to which the tail is attached is irritating her skin, which Sawyer compares to a seat belt irritating his skin. Dr. McCarthy comes up with an alternative gel-like sock (which he calls "Winters Gel", the real-life name of the Hanger product used to attach prosthetic limbs, which was developed during its research with Winter). When Winter is fitted with the new prosthetic tail, she then tries to damage it but she is then able to accept the new plastic and tail. At Save Winter Day, Winter is released into a river for the event and Sawyer's former summer school teacher gives him credit for his work at the hospital, allowing Sawyer to pass summer school despite not attending the actual class. The fisherman who initially spotted Winter places $40 in the donation jar saying, "Winter and I are old friends." The board learns that the real estate deal has closed; however the developer, who attends the event with his grandchildren, sees how everything worked with the help of Winter and agrees to allow the hospital to remain open and says he will financially support it since he has a horrible planning department that could take 20 years to build a hotel. Kyle and Donovan then race in the river, which Kyle then wins (with the help of Winter). Sawyer then dives into the river with Winter. The ending shows documentary footage from Winter's actual rescue and that she is happy and healthy. It then shows several of the prosthetic tails that Winter has worn, and scenes from real amputees who have visited Winter at the Clear water Marine Aquarium. Differences between the movie and actual eventsEdit In the film, Winter is stranded on a beach near Clearwater. She is found by a nearby fisherman sitting on the shore (and then rescued with Sawyer's assistance). In real life, Winter was found in Mosquito Lagoon south of New Smyrna Beach―part of the Cape Canaveral National Seashore. The fisherman who discovered her was in the lagoon as well. Winter was first taken to the local Marine Discovery center and then transferred to Clearwater, which is on the opposite side of the state.7 In the movie Winter appears to be at or near full growth when she is rescued. In real life she was about two months old. In the movie it is mentioned that Winter's tail was amputated due to infection caused by the tail being caught in the rope. In real life, the loss of blood supply to the tail (from being caught in the rope) caused most of the tail to naturally fall off, with a small piece being amputated.8 In the movie the process of developing Winter's tail takes place over a few weeks by a Veteran's Administration doctor working during his vacation. In real life, the process of developing a suitable tail (and attaching it) took a number of months by Kevin Carroll and Dan Strzempka from Hanger Clinic.79 In the movie Winter is found during the summer. In real life Winter was found on December 10, 2005 (which is in late autumn). Winter's name was thought of by Hazel because two other dolphins were called Autumn and Summer. In real life, she is called Winter because she was found during the winter season. In the movie Hurricane Leroy damaged the hospital. There was never a storm named Leroy that has ever hit Clearwater. CastEdit Harry Connick Jr. as Dr. Clay Haskett, the operator of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Clearwater and Hazel's father. Ashley Judd as Lorraine Nelson, Sawyer's mother and a nurse. Nathan Gamble as Sawyer Nelson, an 11-year-old boy who finds Winter and cuts the crab trap off her. And he also becomes Winter's "dad" and friend.